Chair



June 18, 1963 J. SHWAYDER 3,094,357

CHAIR Filed Aug. 17, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

JESSE .SHWA YDER BY W4. V14. flaw g,

ATTORNEY June 18, 1963 J. SHWAYDER 3,094,357

CHAIR Filed Aug. 17, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JESSE SHWAYDER A YTTO/P/VE Y J. SHWAYDER June 18, 1963 CHAIR 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 1'7, 1959 3 m 2 8 I. 2 05 5 4 ,0 3 3 l. 5 3 .l. 3 3 4 y. 3 1% a 7.

INVENTOR. JESSE SHWAYDER 4 g, MW

A TTOR/VE Y United States Patent 3,094,357 CHAIR Jesse Shwayder, Jefferson County, 0010., assignor to Shwayder Bros, Inc., Denver, Colo., a corporation of Colorado Filed Aug. 17, 1959, Ser. No. 834,004 1 Claim. (Cl. 297-452) This invention relates to chairs and more particularly to metal chairs, such as folding chairs.

Chairs, particularly folding chairs, have been made of wood for years, but are often unduly heavy and cumbersome to handle. In addition, the life of such chairs is often limited by the strength of the wood at joints or pin connections, since wood tends to split or wear unduly at such connections. A folding chair made of metal has a relatively long life, but it is always desirable to make such chairs as light in weight as possible. However, the use of sheet metal or plate normally means that if the metal is sufficiently thick for strength, the weight of the chair is greater than desirable. Seats of such chairs have been upholstered, but this is unduly expensive and also unduly increases the weight of the chair. A metal seat for a chair should be reinforced in some manner, as by depending flanges around the peripheral edges of the seat, or extra reinforcing members. Also, comfort and use of the chair can be enhanced by providing the seat and back with a layer of non-metallic material, while the appearance of the chair can be enhanced by providing a pattern on the seat and back. Also, it is desirable to provide a considerable degree of resiliency for the seat, but without unduly increasing weight.

Among the objects of the present invention are to provide a novel chair; to provide such a chair, the seat and back of which may be formed of metal covered by a layer of non-metallic material; to provide such a chair in which the seat and back may have a suitable design formed thereon, to improve the appearance thereof; to provide such a chair in which the pattern of the metal back and seat not only contributes to the apperance of the chair, giving the appearance of more expensive material, but also is more comfortable to use; to provide a novel metal seat for a chair which has a high degree of resiliency but does not unduly increase the weight of the chair; and to provide such a chair, the manufacture of which is readily adaptable to commercial practice.

The foregoing and additional objects, as well as the novel features of this invention, will become apparent from the description which follows, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a folding chair constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a central lateral section of a chair seat having considerable resiliency which may be used with the chair of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a central longitudinal section of the chair seat of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a portion of a metal plate which may be used in forming the seat and back of a chair of this invention;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the metal plate portion of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross section, on an enlarged scale, of the plate of FIG. 4 provided with a coating;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of a portion of an alternative plate;

FIG. 8 is a bottom plan view of the metal plate portion of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary cross section, on an enlarged scale, of the plate of FIG. 7 provided with a coating;

"ice

FIG. 10 is a top plan view of a portion of a further alternative metal plate;

FIG. 11 is a bottom plan view of the metal plate portion of FIG. 10; and

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary cross section, on an enlarged scale, of the plate of FIG. 10 provided with a coating.

A chair constructed generally in accordance with the co-pending application of King D. Shwayder, Ser. No. 655,838, filed April 2-9, 1957, now U.S. Patent No. 2,865,437, is shown for illustrative purposes and may include, as in FIG. 1, a seat S and a substantially U- shaped tubular frame member F forming the front legs 50 and 50 and within the upper end 51 of which is installed aback B. Back B may be contoured for comfort, so as to fit the curve of the back of the user, and may be provided with a flange around its edges by which the sides and top of the back may be attached, as by welding, to the upper end of the frame member. Back B may also have a lower edge 52 which is curled rearwardly to eliminate sharp edges at the lower edge of the back and also to add additional strength to the back. The rear legs 53 and 54 which, in the open position of FIG. 1, abut against the frame member F at their upper ends, may be pivotally attached, as by pins 55, to seat S adjacent the rear edge thereof, while the frame member F may be pivotally attached, as by pins 56, to the seat S at a position approximately one-third the distance forwardly from the rear edge of the seat. Washers may be placed on pins 55 and 56, respectively, next to the seat, while the sides of frame F, as in FIG. 1, may be spaced from seat S by a spacer 57 at each side, each spacer 57 being shaped to fit against the cylindrical surface of frame F and also extend outwardly therefrom at the center, i.e., at the position of pin 56. Each spacer 57 may be spot welded to frame F and also may be additionally secured in position by pin 56 and by a rivet 58, which pivotally attaches one end of a link 59 to the frame, while the opposite end of each link 59 may be pivotally attached, as by a rivet 60, to the rear leg 53 or 54 adjacent the upper end of the latter. Struts 61, having downwardly extending ends, may be riveted between the front legs 50, 50' and rear legs 53, 54, respectively, While the lower end of each front leg may be provided with a cap 62, and the upper and lower end of each rear leg may be provided with a cap 62 and 62, respectively. As will be evident, to fold the chair for storage or similar purposes, the seat S may be tipped upwardly at the front and thence substantially into frame F, so that the rear legs will be moved against the front legs as links 59 pivot from the position of FIG. 1.

The seat S may be provided with front corners 63, rear corners 64, a front flange 65, side flanges 66 and a rear flange '67, as in FIGS. 2 and 3, while curls 68, 69 and 70 may extend inwardly and upwardly from the lower edge of the front, side and rear flanges, respectively. A corner clip 71 may extend around each rear corner 64 and also beneath the curls 69 and 70 adjacent the corner. As will be evident, the lower flange of each corner clip 71, through engagement with curls '69 and 70, in effect provides a continuation .of the curls around each rear corner. Corner clips 71 may be attached to the rear corners 64 by rivets, While a curved reinforcing bar 72, having an arcuate upper edge, may be attached to the front flange 65, on the inside thereof, by rivets. The reinforcing bar 72 stiifens the front edge of the seat.

Both the back B and seat S may be formed of embossed metal, having a suitable pattern thereon of spaced elevated and depressed portions, such as a series of latenally and/or longitudinally spaced indentations, depressions, blocks, ridges, valleys or the like, the identations or the like on one side being greater in extent than on the other side, or having a similar extent on each side.

The embossed metal is conveniently purchased in plate form from a manufacturer. Each plate is cut to shape and the respective parts formed in dies to the desired shape of the back B and the seat S. Then, the back and seat may be dipped or-sprayed to provide a non-metallic coating 28 and .29 thereon, such as of enamel, plastic or the like. If the surface coating is sufiiciently tenacious, the plates may be dipped or sprayed with the coating prior to cutting to size and forming in dies. Various patterns of the embossed metal may be used, including the diamond shaped pattern of plate .23 of FIGS. 46, the rectangular pattern of plate 24 of FIGS. 7-9, the parallel line pattern of plate 25 of FIGS. 10 12, or other suitable patterns. In addition to an increase in stiffness due to work hardening during embossing, a chair seat or back formed of embossed metal is more comfortable to use. Thus, the elevations and depressions of the embossed metal provide a degree of ventilation, so that the chair is more comfortable during use at higher temperatures. Also, the chair seat andback do not feel as col-d during use at lower temperatures, because of the reduction in actual contact area. I

The seat S of FIGS. 2 and 3 may include a metal layer 75 which may be provided with a plastic layer 76, as in the aforesaid US. Patent No. 2,865,437, and layer 75 :thus may be provided with a smooth surface on each side, although embossed metal, such as shown in FIGS. 412 may be used. The metal layer 75 may be formed to shape and provided with a front flange 65, side flanges 66 and a rear flange 67, as before, with the front flange having a curl or lip 68, the side flanges having a curl or lip 69 and the rear flange having a curl 70 to form an integral rigid frame for metal 75, while corner clip 71 and the front reinforcing bar 72 may also be used. However, the edges of seat S may be constructed in any other suitable manner. The seat S is convex on the top but is adapted to move down to the dotted position 77 of FIGS. 2 and 3 when the weight of the user is placed thereon. Thus, the metal 75 is preferably steel or other suitable non-stretchable material which may be treated, as by heat treatment, so as to have a high degree of resiliency, as in the case of spring steel, or a suitable aluminum or magnesium alloy. Without any weight thereon, the metal 75, being of sufiicient area, assumes the convex shape shown in full lines, but when weight is placed thereon, the metal 75 will bend, such as to the concave dotted position 77. However, when the weight is removed, the metal 75 will again rise to a convex shape. Due to the flexibility of the material, the sheet S is very comfortable tor the user, since it will adjust to the contour of that portion of the user placed on the seat. Also, the metal layer 75 has a sufficient degree of resiliency that it will approximate the eifect of a cushion seat provided with springs.

The pattern ofembossing may be selected so as to produce a pleasing appearance, such as the diamond shaped pattern of the plate 23 of FIG. 4, the rectangular pattern of plate 24 of FIG. 7, or the longitudinal line pattern of plate '25 of FIG. 10. The plate may be provided with a coating 28 on one side and a coating 29 on the opposite side, as of enamel, resin or plastic, or any other suitable coating, as in FIGS. 3, 6, 9 and 12, although the blocks, ridges, valleys, indentation lines and the like of the plate permit the coating to adhere more tenaciously to the surface of top T so that a less expensive coating, such as enamel, maybe used. Even with a less expensive coating, the top has the appearance of more expensive material.

In the patern illustrated in FIGS. 4-6, two series of diagonally extending connected ridges 30 surrounding a series of spaced, diamond shaped depressions 31 are formed on one side of the plate, while two series of diagonal indentation lines 32 are formed on the opposite side, the indentation lines 32 conveniently being in alignment with the centers of ridges 31. In the case of the pattern of the plate 24 of FIGS. 79, two series of connected ridges 33, disposed at right angles to each other and surrounding rectangular depressions 34, may be formed on one side of the plate, with two series of indentation lines 35, at right angles to each other and forming a rectangular pattern, as in FIG. 8, may be produced on the opposite side, with the indentation lines 35 preferably opposite ridges 33. As will be evident, the pattern of plates 23 or 24 may be reversed to provide upstanding, diamond shaped or rectangular blocks in positions corresponding to the diamond shaped depressions 31 and rectangular depressions 34, respectively, surrounded by two series of valleys disposed diagonally or at right angles to each other and thereby forming a diamond shaped or rectangular grid pattern on one side of the plate with the indentation lines 34 or 35 on the opposite side forming a pattern similar to that of FIG. 4 or 7, indentation lines 32 or 35 then preferably being opposite the center lines of the raised blocks. In the pattern illustrated in FIGS. 10-12, a series of longitudinally extending, wider lands 36, interspaced with intermediate lands 37 and narrow lands 38, may be provided on one side of plate 25. These lands may be separated by indentations or grooves 39, also extending longitudinally of the strip, the pattern being repeated across the width of the plate in a suitable manner to provide a pleasing appearance, as in FIG. 10. On the opposite side of the plate, a series of ridges 40 may extend longitudinally of the strip and be disposed opposite the respective grooves 39, between lands =41, intermediate lands 42 and narrow lands 43 as in FIGS. 11 and 12.

I From the foregoing, it will be evident that a chair constructed in accordance with this invention fulfills to a marked degree the requirements and objects hereinbefore set forth. The high degree of resiliency or spring properties of the preferred material are such that the seat, although normally convex, will be more comfortable in use, since it will bend to a concave position when the weight of the user is placed thereon, but will move back to a convex position when the weight is removed.

Although certain preferred embodiments of this invention have been illustrated and described, it will be understood that other embodiments may exist and variations made therein, all without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:

A chair seat comprising a generally smooth non-stretchable sheet; and a rigid frame formed integrally with said sheet including flanges extending downwardly from said sheet, said sheet being of suflicient area to provide a normally convex upper surface and having sufiicient resiliency that said surface will become concave when the weight of a normal user is placed thereon, but will spring back to said convex position when the weight of the normal user is removed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 105,993 Snyder Aug. 2, 1870 319,306 Palmer June 2, 1885 1,595,398 Holfman Aug. 10, 1926 1,875,864 Gibian Sept. 6, 1932 1,914,646 Rand June 20, 1933 2,100,877 Severance Nov. 30, 1937 2,233,592 Dunajefi Mar. 4, 1941 2,325,922 Sebell Aug. 3, 1943 2,649,147 San-ford Aug. 18, 1953 2,649,901 Johnson Aug. 25, 1953 2,717,671 Arnold et al. Sept. 13, 1955 2,804,915 Bertoia Sept. 3, 1957 2,847,100 Hotchner Aug. 12, 1958 2,865,437 Shwayder Dec. 23, 1958 2,867,940 Pitton Jan. 13, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 530,857 Belgium Aug. 31, 1954 

